Colours & Dust

Sunny Kigali!

 A long holiday weekend in Rwanda – Independence Day (Friday), Liberation Day today and possibly EID tomorrow, Tuesday but this, I understand, depends on whether there is a half moon tonight and, if not, the holiday will be on Wednesday. The whole of Rwanda is on standby!

So, a good opportunity to do a blog post having decided to spend the weekend in Kigali. A friend of mine, in the UK, asked me why I don’t update my blog as often as I did.  I guess, having been in Rwanda for three years, my musings or observations of life here become more of a way of life and living in Kigali, for the last year, my experiences of those early months in Cyangugu are very different.

What I continue to observe in the city is the pace of development. As we are now into the hot, dry season and with it not only comes the heat but also the dust (and smell of fresh tarmac) added to by the construction of new roads, roundabouts and pavements as the pace of building is being driven by the opening of the new Kigali Convention Centre in time for the African Union Summit on 10^th July.

This corner of Kacyiru is now unrecognisable

Each morning, on my regular walk, I notice the women employed to sweep the roads. As there is no litter, they just seem to be sweeping the dust that seems a rather pointless exercise as it is soon replaced by more dust. They take some risk as they often stand in the road with heavy traffic coming past. I wonder how long it will be before their job is taken over by a vehicle that will come and sweep the roads as we have in the UK.

Endless sweeping

An army of workers is now finishing the roads, installing pavements and cycle tracks building retaining walls, rain water channels, planting trees, laying turf, installing lamp posts, painting the kerbside stones etc. 

Noticeable has been the lack of health and safety with pedestrians seemingly ignoring ‘No Entry’ or Road Closed’ signs – Rwandans like their shortcuts even it this means clambering over ditches, avoiding cables and large diggers.  Even freshly laid cement on the pavements has footprints on it!

A Rwandan short cut!

Much of this work is taking place just up the road from Solace and it was interesting to see that over one weekend two new, large roundabouts appeared.  So, for those driving home on a Friday evening they would have experienced a completely new road layout on their journey to work on Monday morning.

One of two new roundabouts

These new roads and roundabouts are all part of the new Kigali Convention Centre that has slowly been unveiled to reveal beautifully designed buildings by German architect Roland Dieterle. The dome structure of the convention centre is based on the Rwandese tradition of having round buildings such as the King’s Palace in Nyanza. At night it looks even more beautiful lit up in many different colours including the national colours of Rwanda – green, blue and yellow. The new hotel next door with its colourful façade is based on the bright colours found in Rwanda and particularly the traditional clothes the ladies wear here. 

By day

And by night

To have such a major project be finished and opened before such an important event must be putting so much pressure on everyone as something of this scale would normally require a soft opening.  Time to settle in the staff, iron out any hitches/snaggings but I am sure, like the recent World Economic Forum, Rwanda will rise to the challenge and it will be a success.

These major events certainly give Rwanda a great opportunity to put itself on the map for international meetings but perception change is still needed to bring more people here. I am often asked, when I am back in the UK, “is Rwanda safe?” It is probably the safest, cleanest and most secure country in Africa with so much to offer the visitor not only here in the city but around the country. Rwanda tourism are running a very good campaign called “Remarkable Rwanda” and I hope they can push this more overseas and highlight all the things that people may not know about the country.  There is so much more than the genocide and the gorillas.

In admiring these new beautiful buildings and often (OK very often!) finding myself in cafes where the décor easily matches anything I have in my home town of Lewes – known for its many coffee shops, I often think of the contrast of life here in the city and life outside.  In planning a visit for a church team from the UK next year, I was sent a photograph of a house that is currently a home for a lady and her children in Cyangugu – the team will build a new house for her when they come.  Perhaps, not to the same scale to the ones being built here in Kigali but nonetheless an improvement on what she has at the moment.

Kigali or Lewes?

A sharp contrast to Kigali

A couple of weeks ago, we were summoned by the Mayor of Kigali to attend a meeting at the local district office.  A call at 11am asking us to be present at 1pm for a meeting with the Mayor, District Officials and Heads of Security to discuss security for the forthcoming African Union Summit.  At 1pm, myself, Jean-Luc and Betty turned up to be faced with a rather empty room and some frantic phone calls being made to remind people to come – we were awarded brownie points as three of us from Solace turned up.  The Mayor, very apologetic, turned up an hour later and the meeting commenced.  Rwandans have a great capacity to sit and patiently wait and something that I can now manage as well – I have learnt to zone out!

What time is the meeting due to start?

Talk at this meeting was around making sure we were aware of guests we had staying in the hotels and guesthouses including any “extra guests” we may have.  It took me a while to clock what was meant by “extra ladies” and realized they meant special lady guests – something else that is on the increase here in the city. 

Today, Liberation Day, marks the day the RPF liberated Kigali in 1994 and started to bring to an end the genocide. It also brings to an end the official 100 days or memorial and commemoration – a sad and reflective time for so many.

I am still very much aware of the challenges facing many people here.  I have come across a man here in Kigali who struggles to find work and I know life is pretty tough for him.  I have discovered that he has a gift as an artist and produces some very nice small drawings and watercolours. To support and encourage him, I have commissioned him to produce a series of six small painting on Rwandan life and culture.  I hope to have these produced into a series of cards and maybe sell some of his work. I have come to realise, the hard way, it is so much better here to try and create opportunity for people rather than just give them money.

I have noticed, sadly, an increase in beggars, street-children and hawkers on the streets trying to sell me anything from maps, watches, belts, magazines and postcards.  The ones around Solace have got to know me now so rather than try and sell me something I don’t want, we exchange greetings and a wave. It really is difficult to know how to respond in these situations as the government do not want to encourage begging and, I guess, like so many situations like this you need to deal with the root cause of the problem.

Looking ahead, we have about to have a couple of busy months at Solace with teams and visitors coming from the USA, the UK (including members of the Conservative Party) and a team of 50 students from Israel.  I am currently planning three church teams to come out in January & February next year – almost six weeks of back-to-back visits with most time spent in Cyangugu so it will be good to spend some time down there again.

After three years in Rwanda, I have now made the decision to return to live in the UK.  I intend to finish here at Solace in September and take some time to travel in Rwanda, visit Uganda to attend a conference in Kampala in October before returning home for the months of November and December for Christmas and to celebrate a big birthday. I will then return to Rwanda after Christmas to be here for the teams and then, finally, head back to the UK early in March. With the result of Brexit, I was beginning to think that applying for Rwandan citizenship was looking to be an attractive option!

I realise that I can be now more effective supporting Rwanda from the UK. I want to explore the possibility of bringing more church teams out here as I believe in the transformational experience it offers people who come and the people they come to serve here. The experience of being here for three years has really helped to increase my knowledge and understanding of the country, the people, their faith and the culture and traditions that are so deeply rooted here. I really want to be able to share all this with people who come to visit.

Rwanda and its people are very much in my heart and I know that it will not be possible to say goodbye and not continue to support them in some way. It has been an amazing time being here and at no time have I regretted coming here to live and work.  I have had so many wonderful experiences, been blessed by so many and changed in a way that I have yet, I think, to fully recognise.

A Tale of Two Cities

London skyline

Kigali skyline

I realise the gaps between my blog posts are getting longer – the last one was done almost five months ago and reading it, I see I had just come back from the UK after a visit there in the Autumn and now I have just returned, again, back from the UK after a Spring visit.  Normally, I would not go back so soon after a visit but I needed to go home to do a few ‘personal things’ and not do my normal mad dash around the country meeting up with friends to talk about Rwanda.  So to all those family and friends, who did not see me this time accept my apologies and I will see you on my next trip back.

Where's the shop gone? It was here yesterday!

I don’t intend to write about what I have been doing since last November – mainly because I can’t remember!  

Life in Kigali continues and I notice, on my walks, so does the pace of development. Just up from Solace, I have been observing a commercial block now having reached six floors and the roof has started to go on.  Next door, what was a lovely house and garden full of trees is now a large hole as the diggers have come in to start on what will be another commercial block that will, sadly, dwarf the guesthouse.  The China Wall Restaurant, that has been in Kigali for many years and just up the road, disappeared one day along with other buildings to make way for a new road to the new convention centre that opens in June.  So it goes on!  How sustainable this is all going to be, I wonder as not sure who is going to utilise all these office buildings not to mention the many new hotels and houses/apartments that are currently being constructed.

When I was back in the UK, I spent a week in London and was fascinated to see the development that was going on there too.  The city skyline is certainly changing and I was struck, seeing the city from the heights of Kenwood and Hampstead Heath in North London, by the number of cranes there are and seeing St Paul’s Cathedral being surrounded by all the new high-rise buildings.  

Count the cranes

London, like Kigali, is a very green city but the main difference is that London has many open spaces, parks and heaths that are open to the public whilst in Kigali there are more hills and trees but the open green spaces are only for decorative purposes as no one is allowed to walk on them and if you do, you are likely to get a telling off by a member of the police or military guards that are often around.  I am sure they are doing more than just making sure nobody walks on the grass!

London open space - walk on the grass

Kigali open space - whatever you do, don't walk on the grass

It was good, when I was in Lewes to have the opportunity to get up on the South Downs and the freedom to walk across most fields and open land.  I enjoyed a good walk with my good friend Jamie and the dogs – my dog Jasper, who seemed very pleased to see me and Jamie’s dog, Alfie although with all the sheep and the new born lambs around we had to keep them, at times, firmly on their leads.  I notice in Kigali that there are many more dogs now being walked on leads and I have to admit I walk past them with a degree of caution after one suddenly jumped out towards me.

Keeping the dogs on their leads - Alfie (L), Jasper (R)

Flying back with Turkish Airlines to the UK in March, we landed in Istanbul very soon to when a bomb went off in the city.  A few days later, in London, I was watching the news on television about the bombs in Brussels and thought that Kigali seemed to be a much safer place to be.  People still ask me “Is Rwanda safe?” and this always surprises me, as it really is one of the safest, cleanest and most secure countries in Africa.  Yes, there is a high security presence here and something that visitors coming for the first time notice and are slightly concerned about but I tell them there is nothing to worry about. You can walk the main streets of Kigali at night and nobody will bother you and the times I have done this, I always feel very safe – in all the time I have been in Rwanda, I have never felt unsafe or threatened.

Rains, what rains?

I had assumed I would come back to heavy rains in Kigali but, on the whole, it continues to be hot and dry with the occasional downpour.  Like everywhere the weather patterns are changing but here there can either be torrential rain causing houses to be destroyed, crops to be ruined and even people washed away and killed or drought in certain parts of the country.  For a small country, Rwanda does seem to have many different microclimates affected by the volcanoes, mountains and the tropical forest.

With the fast development in Kigali, I assume wrongly that many people have jobs and there is work in abundance. Sadly, this is not the case and I come across many people, even here in the city, who struggle to find work.  Many students finish secondary school and wish to go onto university as they know, to get a good job they will need, at least, a Bachelor’s Degree although this still does not guarantee them work so they then have to go onto do a Master’s.

There are many universities in Kigali but the government are now encouraging them to open regional campuses so that study can be available to people across the country and to save them from having to come to the capital.  People here will often do full-time study or evening and weekend courses combining this with their, if they have one.  Fees are expensive and beyond the means of many and then they need a laptop and money for accommodation, food, registration fees, examination fees and so it goes on!

Fees for primary and secondary schools also continue to be a challenge and I hear stories of many families who owe schools a lot of money in back-fees and it gets to the stage when their children have to leave the school.  It becomes a bit of a vicious cycle as fees are not paid, the school don’t then have money to pay teachers who them find themselves without the money to pay fees for their children.

The government is now trying to encourage more VCT (Vocational Training) so young people can get a skill in something like carpentry, plumbing, electrician and I agree this is a good way forward. When you see the amount of construction that is going on across Rwanda and the need in the future for maintenance and repairs, you hope there us going to be a demand for people with the skills to do all this.

Being a typical Muzungu who likes to have everything planned out, I arrived back in time to pay school fees for a number of students that are in the Educational Sponsorship Fund although this was made challenging as all the documentation I needed was in a suitcase that was still in Brussels! I planned my arrival back on a Wednesday so I could go to the banks on Thursday, thus avoiding the queues that I knew there would be on Friday as it was the 15^th of the month and the day that all businesses and companies have to pay their VAT and PAYE (they get a very hefty fine if they don’t). So, coinciding with families paying fees (the system here is you pay direct to the school bank account and the student has then to take a copy of the bank receipt to give to the school on the first day of term – failure to do this means they will be sent home and not allowed to return to school until fees have been paid) and VAT/PAYE day, I really wanted to be back in time to beat the rush at the bank.

As I managed to get the information I needed, to pay the fees, from various bits of information I had in my office and which took me most of Thursday, I found myself on Friday going to my bank to withdrawal the cash I needed and then to pay it into four other banks. It was a race against the queues building up and I, finally, had to give up at the last bank four hours later, as I could not face the number of people that were there.  Anyway, it was satisfying to have been able to get the majority of fees paid and then the receipts scanned and emailed to the families so their child could go back to school.

Some fees I paid using Mobile Money, a great system here for sending money across the country. I just buy some money using the MTN network, someone sends it for me and it instantly arrives on the phone of the recipient who can then take their phone to an MTN representative to get the cash.  When I first came to Rwanda in 2006, mobile phones were non-existent but today so many people use them as the country is being built on the use of technology – there is fibre-optic cable around the country providing broadband and excellent Wi-Fi available through three providers.  The first thing that everyone asks when arriving at the guesthouse is “Do you have Wi-Fi?”

Remember

My return to Rwanda has coincided with ‘Kwibuka 22’ (Remember22) and today, at Solace, we had a commemoration service to remember those that died in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi twenty-two years ago. One moving testimony from a lady told us how she escaped death many times and spent two weeks in a pit latrine as she was too fearful of her life if she came out.  Candles were lit and held by some of the young members of Solace and names of some of those killed in 1994 were read out.  Kwibuka 22 lasts for 100 days with local commemorations around the country to mark the date that a massacre took place in a particular community.  Even today, they still find remains of people killed but ensure that they are now given a dignified burial.

Remembering loved ones who lost their lives

It is still so very hard to comprehend these tragic events of 22 years in a country that is so beautiful with people that are so wonderful.  It is amazing to see where the country is today and where it has come from and it certainly lives us to its new name of “Remarkable Rwanda.”